Whoever said quantity is better than quality was obviously not at Georgetown Speedway on Friday Night for the United Racing Club's visit to the fast 1/2 mile speedway. Seventeen of the best 360 sprint car drivers the area has to offer assembled into the pit area for the $2,000 to win event.
Even though a full field was not in the pit area there was still plenty of talent with 8 time URC champion Curt Michael on hand with the 5G owned by Bill Gallagher. Previous URC champions Davie "No Panic" Franek and Robbie Stillwaggon were also on hand. Young Hot Show Tyler Ross was on hand with the 25e Eldreth Construction sprint car, and his teammate Josh Weller also made their way to the first state. Local Delaware favorites PJ Williams and Troy Betts were also signed into the pit area.
With two exciting heat races won by Josh Weller and Davie Franek the 0 invert pill was pulled for a heads up feature line up. The front row of Franek and Weller lead the field to the drop of the green flag. Franek got an early jump on Weller into the first turn. The 8w of Rookie PJ Williams got a little high almost going over the banking, while Williams lost a few positions from his 8th place starting spot he gathered it up and headed down the backstretch. The field quickly slowed for the spinning of the Brad Franks 12 car in turn 2 along with trouble for the 23j of Jake Eldreth (making his first URC Start) on the front stretch. While Franks refired and joined the back of the field Jake Eldreth was towed off and done for the night. URC utilized a single file restart with the top 5 of Franek, Weller, Ross, Stillwaggon and Andy Best. On the start Franek again jumped out the lead with Stillwaggon immediately pressuring Ross for the 3rd spot. By the 3rd lap Curt Michael moved into 5th from his 7th place starting position. A lap 6 caution for the spinning PJ Williams in turns 3-4 would again bunch up the field. Franek again would jump out to a sizeable lead over Weller, Ross, Stillwaggon, and Michael. Ross pressured Weller for the runner up spot but was unable to make the move stick. Michael passed Stillwaggon and was now in the top 4 when the caution would again come out, this time for debris in turn 2.
The restart again proved to be no different than before as Franek would jump out to the lead, Curt again pressured from the start and passed Ross for 3rd and immediately charged towards Weller for the 2nd spot. A nasty flip down the front stretch involving Will Eggimann brought out the nights only red flag. Eggimann emerged from the car unhurt but the 77w is a total loss. The top 5 on the restart was Franek, Weller, Michael, Ross and Stillwaggon. While Franek jumped out to the lead on the restart Michael immediately pressured and passed Weller for the runner up spot until the caution came out again. With Michael now in 2nd place the heat was on "No Panic" Franek to live up to his name and drive his own race. The restart again saw Franek jump out to the lead with Michael close in tow. Michael would mount a charge on Franek multiple times but the 28F would continuously shut the door on the 5g of Michael. Franek would take his first URC sprint car win of the year with the top 5 completed by Michael, Weller, Stillwaggon and Jason Clauss.
Finishing Order Franek, Michael, Weller, Stillwaggon, Clauss, Ross, Best, Betts, D. Swanson, Williams, J. Swanson, Cherry, Franks, Eggimann, C. Darling, Eldreth. DNS West.
- Robbie Stillwaggon on May 16, 2015
- Article Date: 5/16/2015 by Tim Moran